It appears that the life or death of Marion Wilson Jr., pictured here,may turn on a dry-seeming point of appellate procedure, and an even more obscure seeming question in the interpretation of a precedent. First: should a federal appellate court look through a "summary decision" to review the last REASONED judicial decision in the hierarchical chain? Second, did the Supreme Court decision in HARRINGTON v. RICHTER implicitly answer that question "no," silently abrogating an earlier look-through rule? Here's a link to a brief discussion of where the case of WILSON v. SELLERS now stands. https://www.oyez.org/cases/2017/16-6855 Wilson's appellate attorney petitioned for a new trial on the basis of the alleged incompetence of his original trial attorney. There were other arguments too, which I'll ignore for the moment. The superior court denied that petition, and the attorney then appealed to the state Supreme Court. The state high court issued a...